Irish Examiner View: Manhattan haze augurs dark future

The hotter temperatures and drier ground conditions which are caused by climate change combine to create more wildfires, which then result in air pollution.

A man runs in front of the sun rising over the lower Manhattan skyline in Jersey City, New Jersey, yesterday. Picture: Seth Wenig/AP

Another stark missive from our immediate future landed this week in the form of images of Manhattan veiled in smoke and dust, the familiar cityscape obscured in an orange-red haze.

The effect is not just visual — recent days have already resulted in the worst air quality readings in New York’s history, and footage has shown plenty of people wearing face masks to offset the effects of the dusty air.